


LD+R: Flashbang

by funkylilrobofucker



Category: LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS (Cartoon)
Genre: A Family That Slays Together Stays Togther, Author’s tryna do Worldbulidng, B.O.B only has room in his heart for fresh Intel and snappy one liners, Canon/OC bc cringe culture is dead, Existential Emotions, Found Families, Kali/Sui/Hawk are a polycule don’t @ me, Let The Robots Swear 2kForever, Mad Mad Now With Cybrogs!, Multi, References ahoy!, Robot Feels, Romcom in the wastelands, Rookie is Confirmed For Baby, Taking Creative Liberites with Cybrog Anatomy, Team as Family, That Was A Perfectly Good Cyborg And Now Look Ya Gave It Anxiety
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:13:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23684446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/funkylilrobofucker/pseuds/funkylilrobofucker
Summary: **Rating is E for later chapters**Hawk made Kali promise not to bring back any more ‘strays’. But roughly six months after Rookie’s back up, and even longer since he’s joined their fold; they come across yet another wayward youngling that Kali cannot bring herself to leave behind.At least the kid’s happy to be there and willing to pull their weight.Could be worse.
Relationships: Hawk/Sui/Kali, Rookie/OC
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	LD+R: Flashbang

♥️✖️➕🤖 : 🏍💪🍀

He thought it was just a mirage at first-

After all, it was a blindingly clear day in the irradiated hellscape of a desert that the Metalheads have claimed as their territory; setting themselves apart from all the other ragtag gangs of raiders, thieves, and Tech-jockeys that litter about the Wastelands.

The day had been mind-numbingly uneventful so far. The young cyborg, known simply as Rookie, woke up in his bunk at 0800 hours _sharp_ this morning because this odd, buzzing, _restless_ feeling yanked him from whatever dreams his internal processors churned up in his sleep. 

Eagerly he had volunteered to tag along in the team’s modified RV with Kali on a scrap-recon after B.O.B. turned her down; who quipped that it was but a “milk run mission” and he had Intel to scrub through. 

Just as well, since not only was Rookie itching to leave the base for a bit, but because out of four older cyborgs, Kali teased him lightest. Even if it was just as frequent as with Hawk, Sui, and B.O.B. Granted, he’s dealt with much worse, and truth be told, it was much better to be playfully roasted by his mentors than straight up humiliated by “friends”. 

The trip out to one of the Old World’s landfills over near the eastern boundary of their turf was “quiet” other than Kali insisting on playing her old Death Metal, and as his auditory receptors rang during recalibration, Rookie found that he was having good luck finding possibly viable electronic scrap and copper wiring among the trash.

Surely B.O.B could find some use for it all. 

Kali busied herself by checking out the rusted corpses of the Old World’s cars; smaller than the teams souped-up beast of an RV, but boxier and kinda gaudier than any of their carefully built and lovingly maintained rigs. 

What they were finding wasn’t much, grappled scrap and spare bolts mostly, but unfortunately _someone_ (Sui) had lost their good metal detector in a poker game to some douchebag Minuteman last week; so the pair were stuck with the _shitty_ one that gave a false alarm half the time. 

Five hours later and back on the road Kali still couldn’t stop grumbling over Sui’s foolish bet. 

“-If the dumbass would _think_ half as much as he ran his fucking _mouth-_ “ 

-Out the passenger side window, off on the side of the cracked, lonely stretch of highway, near some boulders and a prettified shrub. There was a flash of bright color against the rust red rocks along with the gleam of the afternoon sun against polished metal. 

A mirage, right? 

Curious, Rookie glanced back again then gasped at the sight. 

_Oh no._

The twisted body of one of those new hoverbikes that people from down southeast in Gilded City can’t shut up about; it's canary colored paint job scratched to all hell from its tumble onto the concrete and into the ditch. Close by the now pretzel-shaped bike, a lone figure was obscured in the scorching afternoon sun-half leaning, mostly collapsed, against a medium sized boulder-pitifully waving a single hand as a cry for help. 

All at once did the restlessness come flooding back for the young cyborg. 

“ _KALI,_ **_STOP_ ** _!_ ”

The older cyborg slammed on the brakes, and with an old reflex, threw her arm across the rookie’s chest to keep him from face planting the dashboard. 

_Total Mom Move_.

“What the actual _shit_ , Rookie?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!” He paid no mind to her interjection. After all she didn’t have a heart, not an organic one at least. 

“ _Pull over_! I see something!” 

“What? More roadkill?” 

“ _KALI_!” 

“ _Alright! Fuck_!” Exasperated, the raider woman slowly pulled the RV over to the side of the road. 

“So, what is it?” She asked in a deadpan, rather unimpressed with her young comrade at the moment. 

“A...a hoverbike? With a _biker_ ?! It’s a _wreck_ , that’s all I know!” 

“Alright, easy slugger; I’ll check it out.” Kali muttered with a roll of her optics, a habit she’ll never break given the company she keeps. 

The cyborg woman certainly wasn’t born yesterday, and she _most certainly_ wasn’t about to set foot outside of the RV without at least getting a read on who or _what_ decided to fuck around a flying motorcycle as if they lived in the world of fucking _Megaforce_. 

Rolling down Rookie’s window, she leaned over the scrawny cyborg to try and get a look at the supposed wreck that was behind them. 

_Oh shit_.

It was _bad_. 

“Uh fuck.. _hey_ !” Her tone was a little hesitant, she tried again. More demanding this time. “ _Hey you!_ ” She called out to the being leaning against the rocks. 

_‘Jesus Christ.’_ Kali could make out their damage from a couple yards away. 

They were short in stature, had to be a youngling, Kali was sure. They were now minus an arm, and missing a leg from the knee down. About to collapse from exhaustion no doubt. 

_How the hell did they manage not to spring a leak and bleed out their synthetic blood; do their parts just pop off like a Barbie doll?_

“You...you good?” Stupid question, but Kali had drawn a blank. 

And after a moment of thick silence, Kali thought they were too late; another cyborg lost in the live fast, _die faster_ mania than ran rampant in this ‘brave New World’ that was their reality. 

_‘God...dammit.’_ She thought, chest suddenly feeling tight. 

_This kid didn’t have a back-up like they do._

Shocking her away from her grim train of thought, there were signs of life coming from the rocks; a weak move from the smaller cyborg in an attempt to pull themselves up onto their functional leg. 

“Wh- _wha-_?” The voice that called back to the Metalhead duo was a little frayed by static, the synth of their voice box malfunctioning for a second. 

They must have been pretty shaken up to have not noticed that someone had actually seen their efforts to gain the attention of a rare passing vehicle in this neck of the metaphorical woods. 

“Ya gonna make it over there?” Kali’s concern was immediately overshadowed by her compulsion to appear above it all as she added quickly, “No funny business, _by the way_. Or you’re on your own, kid.” 

A staticky, hacking cough seemed to rattle the small body of this unknown cyborg _‘biker…?’_ , before a surprisingly warm and cheery voice called out in the direction of the Metalheads’ RV. 

“Oh…! Oh thank _Turing_ ! And here I thought I was _goner_ for sure!” The girlish sounding cyborg somehow had the hint of a New England accent, it was out of place in the heart of the Southwest, but stranger things have happened to both of the cyborgs waiting inside the car. “ _So_ , how are ya how?” The stranger asked in a near sing-song. 

“ _What-_?! How am **_I-_**?!” Kali was positively gobsmacked at the girl’s carefree greeting. “You’re practically _a_ _fucking torso_!” At that, the younger cyborg just began to laugh. 

“ _Holy shit..._ ” Rookie mumbled under his breath, he almost couldn’t believe it. 

A _girl_. 

The last time he’s encountered one around his age was in some grimy dive bar in New Reno. Which of course Sui butted into the conversation- _that was going well thank you very much!_ -and just had to bring up the time the rookie accidentally backed his rig right into a septic tank and then pointed out his cracking voice box- _thanks Sui, real helpful_ -completely ruining his _game_ . Game that Hawk says he just needs to keep practicing: “ _You’re on your way, scout. One day you won’t even be able to_ **_give_ ** _the girls away if you tried!”_

_‘Yeah, I doubt it.’_

Even now, over ten feet away from the girl, he felt painfully awkward, and not even because Kali was all up in his bubble. 

Here’s this _mystery chick_ , half disassembled and not a _back-up_ to her name, yet chilling out, cooler than some green vegetable-plant he couldn’t remember the name of at the moment. 

Only in his dreams could he achieve that level of Chill. 

_Who was she?_

_Did she need some new friends?_

_....like he did once upon a time?_

The strange girl’s laughter died down finally after a few giggling snorts, before slowly starting right back up again as she a asked with a shit-eating grin: 

“Hey Lady, have ya ever heard about the cyborg who was almost critically injured in a hoverbike accident?” 

_‘Nearly a damn torso, lucky to be alive, and she’s making stupid jokes!_ **_God_ ** _, who does that fucking remind me off?!’_

“Oh for fuck’s sake...no, sure didn’t, kid.” 

“Well...the repair costs were _an arm and a leg_!” 

Teetering on her remaining foot, the girl practically howled laughing at her own joke; on that note, with Rookie letting out a soft yet amused snort, Kali leaned back inside the RV and over the boy to unbuckle herself from the oversized chair, muttering the word ‘Hysterical.’ under her breath as she stood from the driver's seat and made her way out the door with a heavy sigh. 

“C’mon Rookie, let’s go rescue an idiot.” 

“Oh?...yeah totally!” 

Hawk was _absolutely_ going to give Kali shit for bringing home another ‘stray’, but she really couldn’t be bothered to give a damn.

It’s because of _her_ that they found Rookie in the first place! Ditched by his old crew and left up the creek without a paddle in front of that decaying rest stop in the middle of _Nowhere_ , all alone in the world. 

_‘Poor little guy...’_

_Little twerp looked so sad she just couldn’t leave him behind._

And what was that old idiom about a bunch of hands making work _easier_? Really he should be thanking her for recruiting more manpower. 

God only knows they’re the smallest raider gang in the Mojave Region, if it weren’t for their firepower and raw tenacity their turf would have been divided and conquered by the bloodthirsty masses a long time ago. 

Sure, they’ve lost a few friendly faces here and there along the way, but if they threw in the towel now, every scrap of comfort they’ve managed to crave from the arid rock faces-not to mention all the sacrifices each one of them have made ‘For The Good Of The Team’-meant jack shit. 

So if she stumbles across a wayward _‘borg_ with more moxie than common sense and they’re just about as sane and/or _insane_ as any one of her own motley crew, Kali wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

_‘Whatever the fuck that really means anyway.’_

“Rookie, grab her arm. I’ll take the other side.” 

“S-sure thing, Kali.” The young man smiled bashfully as he walked closer to the first peer he’s been around in ages; Rookie hopes he still knows _how_ to even talk to cyborgs his age. 

Taking the newcomer’s hand he felt his internal temperature spike- 

**_> Temperature Warning: ^45% _ **

**_> Steam Vent Failsafe Pressure: ^10%_ **

-and he quickly blinked away the pesky pop-up advisory from his optics’ field of view as he carefully pulled the damaged cyborg's good arm over his shoulders. 

If the girl even noticed his flustered state, she didn’t mention it. 

However Kali seemed to be able to see _everything_ , and shot the rookie a knowing look, an unmistakable sparkle of mirth in her eyes and in the slight upwards curve at the corner of the woman’s mouth; the very ghost of a smirk. 

_‘Ruh roh, we’re in for it now, Scoob!’_

**_> Temperature Warning: ^55% _ **

**_> Steam Vent Failsafe Pressure: ^20%_ **

_‘Great, now I’m definitely blushing. What are we? Twelve?’_

His nerves and temperature only grew under such scrutiny. Known for being a chicken, he looked away first. 

While Kali wrapped an arm security around the ‘rib cage’ of the shorter cyborg and led the slow awkward shuffle back to the RV, Rookie took his chance at getting a closer look at his potential new teammate. 

_‘Let’s keep her!’_ A small voice in the back of his mind piped up, it sounded too much like Sui for his comfort. 

The parts that made her whole looked a lot more modern than the ones belonging to his fellow Metalheads; the girl was all round edges, curves, titanium, and polycarbonates. She looked a bit... _fancy_ really, and Rookie wasn’t really sure what to make of it; only that he quite liked the aesthetic she had and that he wanted to keep looking at her. 

_‘That isn’t creepy, right? Just curiosity between different cyborgs ‘n all. Totally.’_

Nerves getting the better of him once again, the rookie glanced back at the wreckage of her bike, and to his surprised he spotted something decent sized and shiny in a bush a few more yards off the road near the crash site. 

“...Hey wait a second, guys,” Gently, he untangled himself out from the young woman’s arm before jogging over to said bush. 

Sure enough, it was the girl’s missing arm, and through some stroke of dumb luck it really did look as if it had simply popped out of the unit of her shoulder socket and went flying without causing any further damage to it’s owner. 

Walking back he took the smaller cyborg’s arm again while holding her disembodied arm in the other. 

She laughed and joked with him, “Well _golly_ , dude, I sure do appreciate you giving me a _hand_ here!” He grinned with a sheepish chuckle. 

“Heh, see what ya did here..!” 

_‘Girls are cute? Help?? ¿Kali?’_

**_> Steam Vent Pressure Warning: ^40%_ **

**_> Intake of water and/or coolant is recommended._ **

Ever oblivious, the girl had already launched into a long winded story involving her, her bike, and the open road. Kali however was more concerned with helping her up the narrow steps into their vehicle to listen; while Rookie nodded along as he mentally catalogued her features. 

The smaller cyborg’s face was diamond shaped, and her eyes were not unlike Kali’s, optics designed to work best in little to no light. However instead of a burning red they were a flaming gold. Over the crown of her head there was some type of carbon fiber, styled in a way to suggest the appearance of a short, chic asymmetrical bob. Her face was silver and polished to a shine, with only a few scratches down the side of her left ‘cheek’ and the smallest dent along her jawline. Rookie found himself distracted for a second, eyeing her lips that were painted a deep violet and fuller than they had the right to be as she spoke. 

Prying his optics away from the sight of her moving lips, he glanced down at her outfit. 

She wore clothes like people from the Old World, with cloth over her body instead of having the more practical option: the silhouette suggestion of clothing, yet ‘built in’ permanently. 

Maybe she wanted more freedom in the choice of her appearance, Rookie could respect that. From what he could see that wasn’t either dusted with red dirt or hidden under a faded, black crop top and a washed out set of baggy, battered coveralls, the plates of steel that make up her carcass had a frosted finish with the joints and spaces between paneling being more elastic as they were made of carbon fiber. 

_‘She’s...different.’_ He thought to himself as Kali left it to him to help the girl take a seat in the pathetic dining booth belonging to the ancient and woefully unused kitchenette inside of the RV. Slinking back to the passenger’s seat once his task was done, Rookie immediately began to steal peeks at their new occupant; much to Kali’s bemusement. 

A good twenty minutes had passed since Kali hit the road once again, and the growing silence was broken by the girl. “So...Rookie, huh?” 

“-Huh?!” The boyish cyborg startled slightly in his chair, mortified over the very _idea_ that she had caught him gawking at her from the right-hand side view mirror. 

“What, are ya like...the team underdog or something?”

_‘Or something.’_ Rookie thought before replying bashfully. “Oh! Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that.” In the corner of his optical view he could see Kali raising a finely-shaped brow, obviously wondering what the girl was getting at. 

“-Well hey, no shame in that,” Her warm voice was clear even over the roar of the modified RV’s engine. “Everybody always _loves_ the underdog, yanno!” 

Kali’s brows inched towards her hairline for a moment, then she stole a quick glance in the rear view, just at the right moment to see the plucky girl shoot a wink to the easily charmed rookie. 

Kali didn’t have to look over to her right, because she could hear the familiar hissing whistle of Rookie’s steam vents-located on his shoulders and along his collarbone-popping open to quickly cool the dork as he sat blushing and steaming over a goofy compliment from an even _goofier_ cyborg. 

_‘Oh jeez, the kid already has it Bad.’_

“Alright, sunshine,” Kali had enough of the love fest. She wanted some real answers. “What’s your story?” 

The girl perked up, clearly pleased to be asked. 

“Oh, me? Well I’m, shall we say, a little bit... _infamous-_ “ 

“ _-Seriously_?” The older cyborg laughed, but the younger one simply shrugged with a self-deprecating grin.

“-Alright ya got me, _Miz Kali_ , I’m infamous in certain circles,” 

Kali cocked a brow once again as she watched the road, but Rookie was hanging on her every word. 

“What...kinda circles?” He asked wide eyed.

She answered with another shrug and an offhand remark as if telling him that the Sky was blue:

“Oh yanno, like stunt riding, drag racing, graffiti, _disturbing the peace_ ...the usual.” Kali was calling it now: the rookie was gonna be up to his ‘lug-nuts’ in _puppy love_ in like a week, tops. 

_‘Adorable._ Disgusting _.’_

“And your name is?” she kept her tone blasé even if she was stealing a peek at Rookie to confirm that he did in fact have a dopey-ass smile on his face, 

”Clover Fields: At your service, ma’am!” Kali snickered at the girl’s overly enthusiastic reply. 

“That sounds like you just made it up.” 

“My friends call me Lucky!” 

”Yeah? And where are they now?” 

Kali glanced back at the other cyborg, _Lucky_ ; who seemed to deflate slightly from that remark, a visible crack in her jolly bravado. 

_‘Shit, I made her sad.’_

Lucky glanced out of a window to the left, for a split second there was a glassy, far-away look in her eyes right before she suddenly cleared her throat and giggled weakly, “ _Hey_ , that’s a good question!”

Kali cringed just a fraction, but she could feel _the Look_ that Rookie was drilling into the side of her head. 

She scowled at the road’s median. 

_‘Well fuck, it’s not like I meant to, lay off kid.’_

An uncomfortable pause was felt by all, and it was unbearable enough for Rookie summon the initiative to speak up. “Well, uh, fuck them I guess, at least you’ve got us now, right?” 

Lucky looked away from the window to Kali’s reflection in the rear view. Sporting a hopeful, if bittersweet smile. 

Almost like she was _trying_ to give her the Lost Kitten look...the little shit. 

“Yeah?” 

Rookie followed the lead of his peer, staring at the cybernetic woman with his own puppy eyes. “Yeah, _right Kali?_ ” 

The woman groaned, exaggerating annoyance-she knew she was being buttered up-but honestly it didn’t bother her as much as she wanted them to believe. “Fine, but who knows what Hawk will say.” Knowing damn well how it ended up the last time. She rolled her eyes hearing a whispered _“Yes!_ ” along with a tiny fistpump from the young cyborg beside her before she took one last peek at the girl in the back.

Who even with only two functioning limbs still beamed like she had won a million fucking units.

“ _Shit_ , if ya’ll fix me up and give me a place to crash; I’ll follow you to Hell and back!” Her smile was so fucking _earnest_ it almost hurt to look at. 

_‘Huh_.’ 

_Well_ , maybe Kali could get used to having Lucky around, she and Sui could crack lame jokes to each other and Rookie might need someone to watch his six on their raids. 

_‘Yeah Maybe.’_

That’s what she’ll keep telling herself until she twists Hawk’s arm, literally and figuratively. 

Pulling into the dusty driveway into the one of the large metal hangers they have built into the surrounding butte, Kali put her _game face_ on. 

It’s time to bring on the Charm if she wants the girl to be able to stick around. Sui’s a _sucker_ for it and will do anything Kali asks as long as her voice is sugar coated, but Hawk can be a tougher nut to crack at times. 

Oh well, she’s done it all before and will do it again.

**Author's Note:**

> After finishing this I realize now that I gave Lucky a little dash of a Spinel-esque flavor and I don’t hate it lmao. But Real Talk, I’ve been dying to flesh out the universe of Blindspot since I’ve seen the short; I’d pay big bucks to have it made into an actual show 😭


End file.
